Evil One
John 17:6-19
Most of us do not believe in the kind of devil that hauls around a pitchfork and insists on wearing a black outfit to mask his red skin. And it is only with a bit of sarcasm that we can say things like, “The devil made me do it.” Most of us when pressed, don’t really believe that there is a devil that has managed to force us, as individuals, to do a particular thing or behave in a particular way and yet according to a 2007 Reuters poll, more Americans believe in the devil than in Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Even if we were to remove caricatures and overwrought images of a little man with pointed ears and a tail, it is hard to begin the process of conceptualizing something different. Even if we take away this infantile caricature of a devil, we still find ourselves in the presence of real suffering and evil in the world and thus faced with a theological dilemma. Theologically speaking, it is easier to simply brush over this reality with the assertion that God is all powerful, but there is a devil or an evil force that is in constant battle with all forces of good. But, it seems to me that while many Christians believe this, I see these as two mutually exclusive claims. First, that God is all powerful and second that Satan or the devil is responsible for evil. But in order to argue these claims together God ends up looking either a bit conniving or weak. If God is all-powerful then God’s power could eliminate the suffering and evil in the world. In such a framework, we are left with just a few options. Either we can choose to see God’s presence and power in a new way, therefore challenging the idea of God’s omnipotence or we are nearly forced into wondering if God is indeed a God of love.
Professor Susan Neiman insists that the central issue of philosophy, beginning in the 17th century was not, "What can we know for sure?" but instead, "Can we make sense of evil?" One side of the debate, represented by Leibniz, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel and Marx, claims that we can and must make the reality of evil comprehensible. The other perspective, represented by Pierre Bayle, Voltaire, Hume, Schopenhauer and others, denies that we can or should even try to make sense of evil and suffering in the world. But as people of faith, failing to acknowledge the suffering and pain that results from evil actions is simply not an option. And yet seeking to explain the causes of evil, either by understanding systemic injustice or with personal responsibility or another force altogether, leads us to a form of rationalizing evil where we find ourselves trapped by the idea that this reality is just the way things are.
Even in the face of such a theological and philosophical quandary, each of us has experienced pain and suffering and some of us have even experienced the profound depth of what we would call real evil. Our politicians are quick to label leaders, countries and even entire ethnic groups as evil. So, given the reality in which we live, who is to blame for all of the pain? Is it only plausible for us to conceive of evil that comes either in the form of a cartoon devil, evil that comes from a God who looks the other way or are we to blame? In the presence of evil, some have given up on God altogether. Oscar Wilde wrote, “We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”
So, what then are we to do as Christians? Do we credit the world’s deep wounds to a devil and hope like hell that God is on our side? Or do we seek a way with God in the world that holds us accountable and prevents us from being so comfortable that we are off the hook?
But if our question is really about who is to blame for the suffering in the world, then I am not sure that a devil provides us with the answers we seek. As Christians our task is to join what God is doing, which means in part doing what Jesus did to end the aches of the human hearts who found their way to him. The problem with a devil, it seems to me, isn’t about the existence of a devil or about living in the presence of real evil, but what happens when we have something or someone else to blame. When we have a devil, we are blocked from the mirror we need to examine the evils we create. We can easily label Stalin or Hitler or Timothy McVeigh as evil, but the more difficult task is to ask about the world around them or the abuse they endured or what they encountered that hardened their hearts. If the pain and suffering they caused is simply the result of a powerful demonic force, then we are safe, free from condemnation. The devil is our way out of having to come before God in a spirit of confession.
Our scriptures are full of stories where there is another force at work- a force that is clearly at odds with God. “In the Old Testament, Satan appears not as an independent embodiment of evil, but as a member of the heavenly court whose job is to provoke people towards evil and inflict suffering on them so as to test the sincerity and depth of their faith in God.” In the Gospels, Jesus is led out into the wilderness and tempted by the devil. The tempter, as he is called, asks Jesus to turn stones into bread, invites him to jump off of the top of the temple and offers Jesus the world if only he will bow down and worship him. It is easy to mine out the richness of this battle, knowing that each and every human begin is faced with a myriad of choices: choices that offer us life and choices that suffocate and kill us.
When I was in college and beginning to feel my theological oats I stupidly proclaimed in the midst of more Pentecostal company that I wasn’t sure I believed in a devil. I heard a quick response, “That is how the devil works. The best trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist.” I didn’t respond with more than a shrug, but I have always wondered why a devil would exist in the first place given our ability to mess things up on our own. At the end of the Gospel of John, when Jesus says, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one” was he thinking of a devil or did Jesus have something else entirely in mind?
What if Jesus’ request wasn’t so much about the evil beyond the circle in which he sat? What if he was talking about the hearts of his disciples who were his dear friends? I wonder if he knew that just as love can grow from a mustard seed, so can the presence of another way, a force that can work against God, a force we know as evil. Maybe Jesus knew that we human beings have a way of getting in God’s way. Maybe Jesus knew that our worst enemy in this world would be ourselves. Maybe Jesus knew the depths of the human heart enough to know that we falter and fail and fall, sometimes far enough from God that our lives unravel and give birth to evil.
Even when we maintain that God can create beauty out of anything, we should tread lightly “when offering anything like explanations of how evil fits into a rational picture of the world”. Evil is not always something we can explain and ultimately as Christians we should never be okay with its presence in God’s creation. But I am not so sure that we should so quickly give credit to a force out there, far beyond what we can see and know or feel. As we continue to grow in faith together, often it feels like we end up with more questions than answers. But we know enough about God to know that evil will never have the last word. Even when our hearts are aching and lives are broken, we know that love always remains. And if we hold fast to our belief that God is indeed a God of love then we can be sure that God is seeking to create the most beautiful possibilities in any given moment. Even, when we wound and kill each other, even when we fail to do what God has asked of us as crafters of peace and seekers of justice, we know that God will never leave us alone. We hear Jesus’ words to us anew this day, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” If there is force that works against God in the world, we can never belong to it fully- that is the power of Easter. Even after he was battered and beaten, crushed by the Empire, Jesus’ message of love still reigned. So as we stand bright and bold in the face of suffering in the world, as we live with the truth that we will fall short, as we follow together knowing that we ought to walk softly when blaming a force for all that aches in this world, we know to the depths of our fragile human hearts, at the very least, that there is more mercy in God than sin and evil in us. Amen.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKN2922875820071129?sp=true
William C. Placher, Charles D. and Elizabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities At Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, reviewing Susan Nieman’s book in the Christian Century.
Comparative Religion by Kedar Nath Tiwari (Motilal Banasidass, p. 140)
Susan Neiman. Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy.